diff --git a/engine-cli/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/cli/NBCLI.java b/engine-cli/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/cli/NBCLI.java
index 0561cb615..00334b1da 100644
--- a/engine-cli/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/cli/NBCLI.java
+++ b/engine-cli/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/cli/NBCLI.java
@@ -220,6 +220,7 @@ public class NBCLI implements Function<String[], Integer>, NBLabeledElement {
         NBCLI.logger = LogManager.getLogger("NBCLI");
 
         NBIO.addGlobalIncludes(options.wantsIncludes());
+        NBIO.setUseNBIOCache(options.wantsToUseNBIOCache());
 
         if (options.wantsBasicHelp()) {
             System.out.println(this.loadHelpFile("basic.md"));
diff --git a/engine-cli/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/cli/NBCLIOptions.java b/engine-cli/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/cli/NBCLIOptions.java
index 8b7d4de32..acf77d0a7 100644
--- a/engine-cli/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/cli/NBCLIOptions.java
+++ b/engine-cli/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/cli/NBCLIOptions.java
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ public class NBCLIOptions {
     private static final String DEFAULT_CONSOLE_PATTERN = "TERSE";
     private static final String DEFAULT_LOGFILE_PATTERN = "VERBOSE";
     private final static String ENABLE_DEDICATED_VERIFICATION_LOGGER = "--enable-dedicated-verification-logging";
+    private final static String USE_NBIO_CACHE = "--use-nbio-cache";
 
     //    private static final String DEFAULT_CONSOLE_LOGGING_PATTERN = "%d{HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%thread] %-5level %logger{36} - %msg%n";
 
@@ -206,6 +207,7 @@ public class NBCLIOptions {
     private String metricsLabelSpec = "";
     private String wantsToCatResource = "";
     private long heartbeatIntervalMs = 10000;
+    private boolean useNBIOCache = false;
 
     public boolean wantsLoggedMetrics() {
         return this.wantsConsoleMetrics;
@@ -651,6 +653,10 @@ public class NBCLIOptions {
                     this.heartbeatIntervalMs =
                         Long.parseLong(this.readWordOrThrow(arglist, "heartbeat interval in ms"));
                     break;
+                case USE_NBIO_CACHE:
+                    arglist.removeFirst();
+                    this.useNBIOCache = true;
+                    break;
                 default:
                     nonincludes.addLast(arglist.removeFirst());
             }
@@ -812,6 +818,9 @@ public class NBCLIOptions {
     public NBLogLevel getConsoleLogLevel() {
         return this.consoleLevel;
     }
+    public boolean wantsToUseNBIOCache() {
+        return this.useNBIOCache;
+    }
 
     private String readWordOrThrow(final LinkedList<String> arglist, final String required) {
         if (null == arglist.peekFirst())
diff --git a/nb-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/nb/api/nbio/NBIO.java b/nb-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/nb/api/nbio/NBIO.java
index 68e3f1f9a..e983cd527 100644
--- a/nb-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/nb/api/nbio/NBIO.java
+++ b/nb-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/nb/api/nbio/NBIO.java
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ public class NBIO implements NBPathsAPI.Facets {
 
     private static String[] globalIncludes = new String[0];
 
+    private static boolean useNBIOCache;
+
     public synchronized static void addGlobalIncludes(String[] globalIncludes) {
         NBIO.globalIncludes = globalIncludes;
     }
@@ -163,7 +165,11 @@ public class NBIO implements NBPathsAPI.Facets {
      */
     @Override
     public NBPathsAPI.GetPrefixes allContent() {
-        this.resolver = URIResolvers.inFS().inCP().inURLs().inNBIOCache();
+        if (useNBIOCache) {
+            this.resolver = URIResolvers.inFS().inCP().inNBIOCache();
+        } else {
+            this.resolver = URIResolvers.inFS().inCP().inURLs();
+        }
         return this;
     }
 
@@ -628,4 +634,13 @@ public class NBIO implements NBPathsAPI.Facets {
             ", extensionSets=" + extensionSets +
             '}';
     }
+
+    public boolean useNBIOCache() {
+        return useNBIOCache;
+    }
+
+    public static void setUseNBIOCache(boolean wantsToUseNBIOCache) {
+        useNBIOCache = wantsToUseNBIOCache;
+    }
+
 }